by K. I. Lynn
“It’s fine. It wasn’t like a date or anything, Cam. Calm down. I just figured I’d save you the time. I know you’re working tonight. It can wait if it’s that big a deal. No reason for you two to go all crazy over nothing,” I say, trying to diffuse the tension that Niko caused for nothing other than the fact that he’s a jerk. “He was only offering to help.”
“I bet he was,” my brother says to me, but he’s still giving poor Jake the famous Hayes stare down.
“Everyone is calm, Everly. No worries,” Niko says with his hands up as if he were surrendering.
Yeah, right.
Cam grabs the box from where he dropped it a few minutes ago and stands to eye Niko and Jake. Finally, he lets it go, bringing another box to me and placing in on the table.
“This one has no label. What do you want me to do with it?” Happy to change the subject, I grab the box cutter and walk over to Cam and the box. I ignore the testosterone levels in the room and try to forget that Niko is not even ten feet from me. I swear I can smell him from here, and it makes me remember things I shouldn’t.
I pull the box open and realize it’s some office items I packed last minute. I must have used this as my miscellaneous box when I got tired of packing.
“It’s just odds and ends. Mostly office things. This can stay here on the table until I get my desk and everything in my office set up.” Cam pulls the flap open after I just closed it and started pulling a few things out.
“Everly Hayes! Do you collect every colored Post-it known to mankind? What is your deal with them?” He’s sarcastic, but I don’t care. I don’t judge him for being the most unorganized slob ever known to mankind.
“They keep me organized. Just put them back, okay?” I pull the brand new rainbow-colored package of Post-it notes from my brother’s hands. He’s always teased me about it since I started doing it in junior high school.
“I don’t understand you. We live in a time where we use Siri to set reminders for us on our cell phones, but yet, you have a paper calendar and Post-it notes all over the place to remind you to take a piss at certain hours of the day. I told Mom and Dad they should have had you evaluated. It’s just not normal.”
“Bite me, Cameron. You’re not normal. You’d forget your name if someone wasn’t constantly saying it to remind you of who you are, so shut it and put my stickies down. I don’t need to ask Siri everything all the time. Sometimes you need an old-fashioned reminder rather than to rely on some computer or electronic device. You should try it sometime. Maybe then you’d remember more than your birthday!”
Hands up, he steps back, laughing at my outbursts. “Touchy, touchy, little sister. I’m just saying. You need to step into the now and leave 2005 behind you. Times have changed, and I have to say for the better. And I already said I was sorry about missing your birthday. I was on call that day, and it slipped my mind. I did call you, though.”
I roll my eyes and stuff the pads back in the box. “Whatever, Cameron. You called me at one in the morning the next day. You know what? Niko was right—you are an ass.” The mention of Niko causes Cam to laugh harder, and I want to punch him in his neck. Niko, who is helping Jake with some of the bigger stuff, seems to be ignoring us, but I know he’s listening. You can just tell.
“Speaking of Niko.” Cam says and claps his hands together. “Where do you get your supply of Post-it notes, Ev? Niko here had his bone broken by some hooker at the pub not too long ago. She left him high and dry after a wild, rock ‘em sock ‘em night of dirty sex and had the nerve to leave him with nothing but a Post-it note thanking his junk for his services.”
My eyes grow wide, and I look over to Niko who stiffens and then tells Jake he needs a break. They put the treadmill down where they’re standing, and Niko turns to glare at my brother while Jake smiles, trying to hold in a laugh I’m sure.
“Maybe Ev can give you her supplier, and you can track down the chick that wrecked you for all womankind. You can track her down as they do on that damn CSI show you watch, bone her again, and get that shit out of your system so we can all get back to normal, eh?”
“Fuck off, Cam. Cut the shit already, would you? This is getting old.” Niko storms off and heads outside.
I don’t blame him. My brother is being a total dick, and I’m basically to blame for it. I hit my brother on the back of his head for being rude.
“Ouch! What was that for, dammit!” he says, rubbing the spot I just smacked.
“For being rude. Niko is here on his day off, helping me, your sister, move into a new place. He doesn’t have to be here, and you’ve been giving him a hard time all day. Cut it out before he leaves, and then you’ll be stuck here helping all alone.” A throat clears behind us, and I turn to see Jake sitting on one of the breakfast stools.
“I just want to state for the record that all is normal on my end,” Jake says with a mischievous grin.
“Shut up, rookie. Don’t get Niko fired up again. I’ll have to hold him back from kicking your ass when we all leave. Trust me, he’s a dirty fighter.”
“Seriously, Cameron? You’re telling other people not to antagonize Niko, but you haven’t stopped since you guys got here. What is wrong with you guys?” I don’t understand men sometimes. It’s like having third graders in front of me all day and having to play referee or they’ll kill each other. This is why I’m never having kids. I’d be too afraid of having a child that would turn out like my brother.
“I’ve got no plans tonight, so I can stay and help with whatever you need. I’m just letting you know. All’s good here.” Jake says as he smiles at me.
“Yeah? Well, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. So whatever thoughts you had about Thai tonight for dinner with Sunshine here, you can go get it on your own, because my sister is off limits, Bishop.”
“I was just offering to help, Hayes. I figured if you and Niko are working tonight, I’d be a gentleman and stay. I was only being helpful.”
“I’m sure you were, but actually, Niko’s not working tonight. I am, and Niko already offered to stay and help my sister with the rest, and setting up, so you can get gone anytime you’d like. She’s all set.”
I glance over to the door where Niko is coming in with another box and raise my eyebrow. Niko looks like this is brand-new news to him, but he doesn’t say anything to correct Cam. Good Lord. What am I missing?
I look back toward Cam and Jake, only now the two of them seem to be having some standoff in my new living room, and I’m not sure what to do. Niko notices the tension in the room. He looks at Cameron, then Jake, and then over to me. I shrug, and he narrows his eyes at me. I don’t think he likes when I do that, but whatever.
“All good in here?” he says and looks at Cam.
Cam pulls his eyes from Jake and nods his head. “Yeah. Everything’s good. We about done out there?”
“Yeah. Just two more boxes and then she’s golden.”
He looks around at the mess of boxes piled everywhere. “Well . . . all the lifting is done anyway.”
CAM BREAKS DOWN THE box he just emptied and sets the utility knife down on the counter. “All right, man. I’m about to head out. I want to shower and grab a nap before I head to the station. You have anything important to do tonight?”
“Nothing that can’t wait. Why?” I look at Cam and wonder what he’s up to. I overheard some of the spat between him and Bishop, but I have a feeling it has to do with Bishop staying around.
“Do me a solid?”
“What’s up?”
“Hang around awhile. Make sure all the guys leave before you do.”
“What’s a while?”
“As long as the rookie is here, I want you to stick around.” I follow Cam’s gaze to Jake and watch as Everly laughs at something he just said to her. I won’t lie, I want to punch the fucker’s smile right off his face. Even after Cam told him to back off, the asshole is disregarding everything he said and openly flirting with his sister.
I don’t blame Cam for being worried. If Cam and I have a reputation with the ladies, it’s nothing compared to Jake Bishop. The ladies flock to him like starved birds in the Boston Common. As long as he gets them into bed, he doesn’t seem to care. The dude is full of that pretty-boy charm, and he uses that shit to his advantage. At least that’s how it appears to us when we watch him in action.
“Yeah. I’ll stick around. No worries, brother.” Cam claps me on the back and then heads to the door.
“I’ll see you sometime tomorrow, Ev,” he says with a wave.
“You’re leaving?” Ev asks, her gaze flickering to me.
What, is she scared to be alone with me?
“Yeah, in a second, but Niko had a change of plans, so he’s going to stick around and help you get the big things set up,” Cam says, and I want to laugh as I watch the look on her face and her eyes grow wide.
“Oh, he doesn’t have to do that! I’m sure he’s got other things he can do on his night off.”
With that reaction, I’m staying until she forces me out the damn door.
“Actually, I’m good. Nothing planned until much later, so I’m all yours.” I smile my famous megawatt smile that is sure to render little Miss Everly Hayes speechless. It never fails. She doesn’t say anything at first, falling into the typical Niko zone that I knew she would, but shakes it off faster than I expect. Whatever. She doesn’t need to know that my plans for later are made up.
“Okay, then. I guess I could use the extra help.” She does that goddamn shrug that I can’t stand, but I’m starting to get the feeling that it’s all bullshit. I’m just not sure yet.
A few minutes later the boys start to move out, Cam hugging Ev goodbye as he goes, but a few linger. I see the way Jake keeps glancing over at Everly the second Cameron is out the door. The way he moves closer and closer to her. The fucking way she smiles at him every time she catches him looking at her.
She’s fucking smiling at him, while I get jack shit. I’m the one that’s pissed off. I’m the one she should be smiling at, thanking me for the best night of her fucking life, but no. She bats her eyelashes at him, the same way she batted them at me while she screamed and begged for more. Why the fuck am I thinking about that night?
Shit.
I crane my neck and let out a deep breath; my eyes close as I try and calm myself and my dick down.
Yeah, my pride is wounded, and I want to fucking pound her with my cock out of fucking anger. Why the fuck did she have to be Cam’s sister? I’ve promised him, but her lie voided that. Would another night make the situation worse? She’s not telling him, and I’m sure as hell not going to tell him what happened. It’s already being kept from Cam, so what harm could come from me pursuing her one more time? Would it stop me from thinking about her non-fucking-stop?
She’s exactly what I want right now. A challenge. Her whole attitude has me on my toes ready to pounce, but can I chase her and keep my friendship with Cam intact? I mean, technically we’ve already been together, and that wasn’t my fault. I would never have taken Everly home had I known who she was. However, now that I have, what’s stopping me from pursuing her again?
I just need to get her out of my system once and for all. Turn the tables, so to speak. There is no way she can resist if I give her a repeat of what we had that night. It was in no way fucking forgettable, and I know, regardless of her aloofness toward me and our situation, I know for sure that she was right there with me. I have the texts to prove it.
She can try and deny it all she wants, but I’d know she was lying. Time to even the playing field and get back in the game.
Everly Hayes, one.
Nikolas Callahan, zero, but not for long. I’m about to score . . . once I get rid of Jake’s lady-killing ass.
“I thought you had a date,” Everly says from somewhere behind me.
Jake just left, so I’m sticking around to make sure he stays gone. It’ll also give me some time to talk freely.
“Actually, something came up last minute. I’ll just be meeting my date a little later than planned. It was planned last minute, so don’t worry your pretty little head about me. Everything’s good.” I give her my teeth and blind her with my pearly whites. It’s one of those smiles that I’ve used to render women speechless. Everly is no different than they are when it comes to it. I’m not surprised to see that she’s essentially zoned out on me while staring.
“Earth to Everly.” I snap my fingers, causing her to blink a few times. Yeah . . . she’s not as immune as she tries to act. She turns away from me and starts pulling the top off another box, trying to play off her reaction to me. Good. I’m already starting to feel better. This is precisely what I needed. I’ve been so busy being obsessed with the fact that she left me without a word after one of the best nights of my life, then pissed at her when I found out that she lied to me about who she was.
It’s time to turn the tables on this shit. Get back to being me and not this fucked-up version she left me with. She wants to act like she was just looking for a hookup? Well, I’ll give her what she wants, but this time I’m going to put her on her ass. After all, this isn’t my first rodeo, and it won’t be my fucking last. Let’s see how she likes it.
“So, something else came up, and just like that you’re free for the evening, huh?”
“Well, not the entire evening, but yup. Just like that.”
“Right . . . So my brother didn’t happen to talk you into babysitting by sticking around, maybe make sure Jake was on his best behavior?” she asks, her brow quirked up. She knows, but I don’t think her brother knows who he needs to watch out for.
“Maybe it’s you that he wants to ensure is behaving. I’m starting to wonder now if maybe Cam should have warned me about just how much his little sister’s changed over the years,” I say and pull the leveler from the tool bag on the floor.
“Don’t you think it’s you that my brother should be worried about and not just Jake?” She stresses the word ‘you’ like I’m some villain in this situation. I want to snort at her, but I don’t. I can be just as cool as she can. However, that won’t get me what I want right now, so I answer her honestly.
“Maybe, but then again, Cam and I have been friends a long time. He knows that I’d never intentionally hit on or hook up with his kid sister.” I look directly in her beautiful hazel eyes, eyes that a man could drown in, but then I snap myself from the thought and make sure she knows what I’m saying. “The key word there, sweetheart, is intentional.”
“Look, I know that night we all had dinner was all kinds of crazy.”
I stop what I’m doing and shake my head at her words. “Not crazy, Everly. Fucked up is what it was.”
She waves her hand in the air toward me and then goes right back to unpacking her books. “Okay, fucked up. I apologized. I know I was wrong. I’ve been in a bad place lately, and I meant what I said. You were in the right place at the right time. I don’t want you to take it personally. I mean . . . if it were someone else that I’d gone home with, I’d have left the same way. It wasn’t you it was all me so don’t be too hard on yourself or let the guys get to you.”
My jaw ticks. “It wasn’t just the night you used me for sex. You led me on for weeks. You flirted. You didn’t just flirt; we had phone sex. We talked, and not once did you think it was a good idea to tell me who you were?”
“No, because that’s all it was,” she says, and I want to strangle her. I know what the fuck it was.
“It wasn’t just sex and you fucking know it,” I say, cutting her off, but she ignores me.
“I should have told you who I was.” I glare at her for a second, and she ignores me. “But I didn’t, and we can’t change what happened now. Can we just start over and move on from here? I get it. Cameron would be pissed if he found out about what happened between us, and even though I’m obviously a grown woman and can sleep with whoever I want, I don’t want to cause problems with the two of you.”
“Everly, I
think you are missing some major points here.”
“Look, you told me to own my shit, and I am. I used you for sex, and it was wrong. I lied, and that was wrong. I’m sorry. The last thing on my list of crimes is my brother. Other than thinking of my brother’s feelings on my hooking up with his friend, I don’t see what other major points matter now,” she says, and I’m shocked into silence.
Well, it’s about damn time she said that shit on her own.
“I knew he wouldn’t be happy with the fact that I’d slept with his friend. I just didn’t realize how much of a problem it would be until now. After today, seeing how he’s acting with just the thought of Jake hitting on me, I know he’d be upset. I honestly wasn’t thinking about Cameron at all when I decided to go home with you.”
“You should have. Cam should have been the first person you thought of when you decided to lie to me. And Cam wouldn’t just be upset; he’d be pissed! Do you know how many times he had warned me off of you before you even arrived?”
“I know,” she says softly, and it brings my attitude down a little bit.
“No, Ev, but you’re going to know once he finds out. As for those being the last things on your list of crimes, well, you’re wrong about that. What you did, the night in the pub, that was wrong, but after?”
“After?”
“Yes, after. The texting. Getting to know me more. Letting me get to know you, and not telling me. It shouldn’t have happened.”
“I agree. We can’t change it now. What good would come out of telling my brother? We can still start over, Niko. Water under the bridge and all that. You’ve known me since I was a kid. We can be friends. What do you say?” she says, and again she’s throwing water on my fire, but only a little bit.